Game
Rock Beyond Time
3 years ago

About the upcoming expansion- coming this week, hopefully


First off, why am I doing an expansion?

  • ...because I felt that the game, good as it was, hadn't reached its full potential. There were a lot of mechanics in this game, and I didn't use them all. This included making a dungeon that used keys, a quest that seriously used the time travel mechanic for the gameplay, utilizing certain rings in specific ways, and a bonus boss.

So, what's in the expansion?

  • An NPC looking for someone generous to help you plant... something. You'll have to complete the Flour sidequest before you can help them.

  • A bunch of places to plant... something.

  • A new dungeon with new puzzles, a couple of new monsters, some keys, and where you can actually travel through time inside.

  • A new boss fight. (No Stat boost for it, though. I have to keep the game balanced.)

  • Bug fixes, because I kept noticing them as I kept working on this.

  • A convenient surprise for players who try to beat this in a single run without reloading the save file. (...though with any luck, the game shouldn't crash by that time.)

When is the expansion coming?

  • Before the 27th. There's a Splatfest coming up, and I don't wanna miss it. ...assuming nothing goes wrong.

What is NOT in this expansion that I would've liked to be in this game?

  • A higher-quality soundtrack with vocal lyrics

  • A reward/punishment for min-maxing

  • Sega CD-quality animation sequences

  • A roguelike mode

  • A translation into other languages

  • Sound effects that won't land me in copyright trouble if I decide to sell this game.

That being said, the features mentioned above (besides the min-maxing bit) seem like things I want to do if I want to make a special retail version of the game. ...except maybe the translation. That's something to do whenever I can, with the upcoming build I'll have. I don't want to make people pay a premium just so people can play this in Brazilian Portugese. What I really need is a chart on how to insert actual foreign, non-Roman-based characters into my text, and Game Maker's help docs ain't helpin'.

6


0 comments

Loading...

Next up

Like I said before, draw_background_tiled_ext() can't do rotation. ...but if I'm not rotating, I can use it without consequence for an infinite floor.

I'm gonna work on a system for the road to constantly spawn objects as I move forward in a sequence.

So, what's the secret to drawing a car?

1. Just draw the car from profile, back, and possibly front.

2. Dig out any Hot Wheels product for reference.

3. Use the reference to figure out how to draw those in-between angles.

The next update may be full of bugs.

...moths, mostly.

Part of the expansion involves a cute little fight right here. ...in space for no apparent reason.

...too bad it won't be as epic as the final boss, but still...

I hope you appreciate what I go through for pointless details like this.

I don't plan on going this crazy too much, though.

I realize some players just want to play the game and see the story, while others may actually want to use those revival items, so here's a little compromise for you all.

Also, yes, I NEED to put on that "Pro" flag everywhere.

All this work to get punched in the face.

Here I am, still trying to push the limits. I'm pretty sure there's a shader for Mode 7 out there, but this is what I've been working with.

Also, because of limitations, red flashing floors generate force fields you can bump into.

I'm getting closer to my goal here.

All these rock piles are gonna loop indefinitely for now. My goal is to make the road widen, tighten, and move side-to-side with the walls.

...and replace the grassy floor with something more fruitcake-like.

I might have gone too far in a few places, and not enough in others.